William H. Keith Jr. and his brother
J. Andrew Keith noticed ads in
Journal of the Travellers Aid Society which announced that
Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was looking for authors;
Loren Wiseman hired them to start freelancing for GDW in 1978 or 1979, and the three worked together on a lot of the early material for the
Traveller universe. William Keith also contributed heavily to the graphical appearance of that era of
Traveller releases. The Keith brothers began earning enough money that they were able to do freelance work full-time beginning around 1979. The Keith brothers began working for
FASA by the end of 1980, with William Keith contributing artwork for the magazine
High Passage beginning in 1981. FASA began publishing adventures for
Traveller beginning with
Ordeal by Eshaar (1981) by the Keith brothers, who then wrote the "Sky Raiders" trilogy (1981–1982) for FASA. William Keith designed the role-playing game
Behind Enemy Lines (1982), the first RPG set in the 1940s. FASA ended its support of
Traveller in 1983, so the Keith brothers continued writing for
Traveller with the new company
Gamelords, but continued to work for FASA on other projects. The Keith brothers authored seven
Traveller supplements published by Gamelords, including
The Mountain Environment (1983),
The Undersea Environment (1983), and
The Desert Environment (1984), and adventures intended for the environments described in those rulebooks. The Keith brothers produced some material for the
Chivalry & Sorcery line in 1984, and in 1985 they began working on other lines for
Fantasy Games Unlimited including
Aftermath!,
Daredevils,
Flashing Blades, and
Psi World. The Keith brothers also designed
Freedom Fighters (1986), one of the final role-playing games published by FGU. William Keith authored
Delta Force: America Strikes Back! (1986), the first role-playing game from
Task Force Games. William Keith wrote
Decision at Thunder Rift (1986), the first novel published by FASA. William Keith authored a large
MegaTraveller campaign set in the Gateway sector for
The MegaTraveller Journal #4 (1993), the final publication of
Digest Group Publications. William Keith became a professional artist and writer, working in the game industry with his brother Andrew, particularly for
Game Designers' Workshop and
FASA before becoming a full-time author. Much of his early work, including the
Warstrider series, the ''Freedom's Rangers
series, the Cybernarc
series, and the Invaders of Charon'' series, is currently
out of print; 'Warstrider' will be re-released in 2014. He was also an early author for
BattleTech, writing the saga of the Gray Death Legion. Keith also writes under various pseudonyms and "house names", including Ian Douglas and
H. Jay Riker, and is a shadow author of several books "by" celebrities. He has written extensively in
Keith Laumer's
Bolo series, contributing several short stories to the Bolo anthologies, as well as three full-length books,
Bolo Brigade,
Bolo Strike, and
Bolo Rising. As Ian Douglas, he writes military science fiction: the
Galactic Marines series (composed of the
Heritage Trilogy, the
Legacy Trilogy, and the
Inheritance Trilogy), and the newer
Star Carrier series. As
H. Jay Riker he writes military fiction: a series about the
United States Navy SEALs progression from
World War II through the
Vietnam War,
Desert Storm, and
Iraqi Freedom, and another series,
The Silent Service, about the United States submarine service. Other novels include
Diplomatic Act with
Peter Jurasik, and
Two of Minds, nominated for a
Newbery Award. He also continued
Keith Laumer's Retief series with ''Retief's Peace
. His first non-fiction book, The Science of the Craft'', was published in 2005; it is about the link between witchcraft and science. Keith's recent work includes three books in
Stephen Coonts'
Deep Black series; a police procedural/detective novel in the Android universe; and a new series about Navy Hospital Corpsmen in the future. Keith, a
Wiccan and a
Reiki master, is also a member of Western Pennsylvania
Mensa. == Bibliography ==